DEVELOPMENT FOR WHOM ?

 According to Meier 'economic development is the process whereby the real percapita income of a country increases over a long period of time'.Naturally it implies the determinants of economic growth such as proper utilisation of natural resources, development of infrastructure, changes in technique of production, social attitudes and institutions that result in development.Development process lead to generation of  output, income and employment As population increases and the pace of economic and physical development quickens,there is widespread concerns that scarce  natural resources are used in ways that do not take account of the external costs . Accordingly the idea of "sustainable development - the development that meets the needs of present generation without compromising with the needs of future generations " assumed significance.To tackle global environmental crisis like global warming, climate change and ozone layer depletion UN adopted 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets as part of United Nations 2030 agenda for a concerted effort to build a hunger free, healthy, inclusive, sustainable and resilient eco system for both the people and planet.

The planned development strategy that we followed during the period 1951 to 1991 gave major thrust to basic and heavy industries and multi purpose large irrigation projects.The strategy required all our efforts to achieve maximum capacity utilisation not only in existing industries but also in more additional production in capital light cottage, small scale and medium industries. At that time private  sector was considered to be essentially complimentary to  the rapidly growing public sector. However experience has shown that public sector led heavy industries strategy largely failed to deliver aspired development outcomes in the country. Hence in order to tackle the prevailing economic crisis major path breaking economic reforms got initiated since July 1991 by abolishing license Raj and introducing liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation to boost efficiency and international competitiveness of industrial production. As a result there was drastic reduction in government control and vibrant role for the private sector by  unleashing the  " animal spirit of enterprise ".The newly constituted NITI Aayog (in 2015) replacing the  earlier Planning Commission aims to accelerate annual economic growth 9-10% mainly through- drivers,  infrastructure inclusion and Governance. While Green revolution has transformed the nation from chronic dependence on food grains imports into a net exporter of food ,economic reforms enabled the country to break the low level trap of  "Hindu rate of growth" to  higher GDP  growth and sustain it.India's GDP at current prices is estimated to be rupees 232.15 trillion(US$ 3.12 trillion) in financial year 2021-22. Despite the global headwinds India continues to be the power house of growth in 2022-23 especially in the background of widespread vaccination coverage, release of pent up demand and supported by service sector growth, increased capital expenditure ,tax buoyancy,Digitalisation of tax filings,agriculture growth etc. 

Despite India became the fourth largest economy of the world, large scale unemployment and inequality persist on the one hand with a moderately unequal to one with extreme inequality in the transformation process from-"license Raj " to " Billionaire Raj ".According to recent OXFAM  study  top 10% own 72 % wealth and top 1% own 40.6% of total wealth in India. The number of total billionaires in the country increased from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022.Combined wealth of India's richest 100 amounts to rupees 54.12 trillion.With regard to resource utilisation it is observed that In addition to air pollution, water shortages and pollution ,and waste management reckless construction activities in major biodiversity Hotspots and hillstations like the Himalayas, Western Ghats, Sunday and (including Nicobar islands ) and the Indo Burma region has been recklessly exploiting our rich natural resources. According to Centre for Science and Environment study Report 2021 India has already lost almost 90% of the area under the four Hotspot. Severe environmental issues faced by India include - rampant environmental degradation, degrading air quality,loss of bio diversity, urbanization impact  especially in Himalayas,poor waste management, depletion of land,air and water resources,loss of resilience in ecosystems, and growing  water scarcity.NITI Ayog's development plan for the Andaman and Nicobar islands with an outlay of rupees 75000 crores for developing transhipment terminal terminal with a greenfield international Airport  townships and solar and gas based power plants in the islands while implementing not only will have adverse ecological impact but also adverse impact on the life and livelihood of indigenous nicobarese and shompen people. Similarly in Jharkand the richest mineral state of the country the indigenous people are deprived of decent living due to exploitative land laws by the Government.In Joshimat, Uttarakhand  due to instability tetnock movements (endogenic forces) construction activities River bed loose soil,water pressure and soil displacement (exogenous forces) led to the present crisis. There are a number number of areas in Himalayas western Ghats and other tourist crowded places gradually experiencing land subsidence. 

  Despite Governmental initiatives to tackle environmental degradation in India like Swatch Bharat Mission, Green Skill development programme,Namami Gange Programme, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act (CAMPA), National Mission for Green India, National River Conservation Programme and Conservation of Natural resources and eco systems. Country's heavy dependence on coal, oil and gas makes it world's third largest polluter contributing over 2.6 billion metric tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere every year. About 40 million Indians suffer from waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and hepatitis resulting in nearly 4 lakh fatalities due to water pollution and related damages to crops and damage to fresh water biodiversity. Waste management issues, landslides, floods,  droughts,lack of proper  drainage  drinking water availability health housing and sanitation facilities remain inadequate. On the contrary programmes like MGNREGA, PM Gramin Awaas yojana,PM Gati Shakti,PLI scheme and other poverty alleviation and inclusive development schemes are expected to strengthen the deprived and marginalised sections of the society.

However when lofty mountains that touch the skies, gentle hills clothed in dense tropical and evergreen valleys are destroyed through ill considered infrastructure projects and indiscriminate promotion of tourism destroys the biological hotspots resulting in constant anxiety,fear and loss of livelihood opportunities to the indigenous people the question naturally  arises development for whom? Similarly when India is transforming as the epicenter of global growth with largest population and demographic dividend, highest GDP growth rate,better foreign exchange reserves, investment and remittance flows, digital revolution, start-ups ,unicorns ,and tax buoyancy, why is it that poverty is rampant and poor ranking in human development and hunger indices and top ten percent own 72% of wealth in India .The question still valid  "development for whom "?Infact an effective and rigorous ecological, environmental and employment scrutiny of policies,Programmes and projects and accordingly undertaking appropriate actions to achieve stated environmental and employment goals alone can provide sustainable development.